You’ve got to feel for Oakland A’s infielder Scott Sizemore, who is out for the season — again.

Sizemore underwent ankle surgery in 2009, and last year tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on the first day of spring training. He had surgery that wiped out Sizemore’s 2012 season.

This year, it seemed, Sizemore was finally healthy. But he felt tightness in his left knee while chasing a shallow fly on Tuesday. He had torn the same knee ligament, and will need a second surgery that again ends his season.

“Unbelievable, it’s just awful,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin told reporters. “Scotty is one of those guys you really pull for. He’s such a good guy, cares so much and wants to win. He’s coming off two difficult surgeries, and a third one is devastating.

“We’re thinking about him. I can’t imagine what’s going through his mind right now.”

Brawl games

The ugly brawl that started when San Diego’s Carlos Quentin charged the mound got most of the attention, for good reason. Zack Greinke ended up with a broken collarbone in the fracas.

But a second incident erupted shortly after order was finally restored. Jerry Hairston Jr. came charging out of the Dodgers dugout and headed toward the Padres dugout. Hairston, who played for the Padres in 2010, was stopped by Mark Kotsay and Yonder Alonso of the Padres, but both dugouts and bullpens emptied again.

Hairston said afterward he heard someone in the Padres dugout making fun of Greinke getting hurt.

“We’re trying to win here, and now one of our aces has a broken collarbone,” Hairston told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I lost it. I played over there and I respect a lot of guys. No one that I respect more than Mark Kotsay. But I wanted one of the guys over there. You don’t make fun of a guy being hurt.”

Even that wasn’t the end of it. Dodger outfielder Matt Kemp, Quentin and Padres pitcher Clayton Richards had a confrontation after the game in the tunnel used by both teams as an exit. It was broken up by police and security offers.

When the Padres and Dodgers meet in a three-game series at Dodger Stadium, beginning Monday, it should be very interesting.

Notes and quotes

• The reformation of Barry Zito continues to be one of the best stories in baseball. Not long ago, Zito was considered one of the great busts in history and a threat to be released by the Giants. But now they have won his last 16 starts — including three huge wins in the postseason last year en route to the World Series title.

This season, Zito went 14 scoreless innings in winning his first two starts. Just for an added bonus, he is 3 for 4 at the plate. All three hits went to the opposite field.

“He’s going to have a shift soon,” Buster Posey joked to the San Francisco Chronicle.

• Great quote from Zito’s teammate, Hunter Pence, on the major changes he made to his daily weightlifting program. Pence used to go for bulk but changed to exercises stressing flexibility.

“Only the supremely wise or abysmally ignorant do not alter,” Pence told the San Francisco Chronicle, words possibly headed to a fortune cookie near you.

• The fact that the Mariners lost two out of three to Houston in April is not the end of the world. But it is a bad omen.

Last year, when the Astros went 55-107, playoff-bound teams won 17 of 19 series against them, and were 45-14 overall.

• The start of the Nationals-White Sox game was delayed on Wednesday, but not because of inclement weather. Turns out the umpires were caught in traffic and couldn’t get to Nationals Park in time.

The game finally started at 7:21, about 15 minutes late. The umpires’ tardiness was understood by anyone who ever had to drive in the nation’s capital.

“I’ve been stuck in traffic many a time here in D.C.,” Washington shortstop Ian Desmond told reporters. “I’m surprised they got here as fast as they did. It’s always an adventure.”

• According to The New York Times, when Mariano Rivera was asked recently which batter gave him the most fits, he replied without hesitation, “Edgar Martinez.”

The statistics bear him out. Martinez was 11 for 19 (.579) off Rivera, with three doubles, two homers, three walks and six runs batted in. Opponents have batted .210 against Rivera in 19 seasons.